In a 4-0 vote, the City of San Luis Obispo passed an ordinance last night that would help accomplish their goal of reaching carbon neutrality by 2035. The ordinance would require every new building constructed in the city to be all-electric starting January 2023.
At Tuesday’s meeting, staff for SLO’s Office of Sustainability and Natural Resources proposed the new ordinance. “We're here because we have one of the most ambitious climate action goals in the entire country,” said Greg Hermann, the Deputy City Manager of the City of SLO.
Hermann said a huge part of achieving this goal includes mandating new buildings in the city to be all-electric, meaning things like gas stoves won’t be allowed.
“That goal is carbon neutrality as a community by 2035, and that includes a building sector goal of zero operational [greenhouse gas] emissions from new buildings as well," he said.
Through months of research, the city found the current program was not enough to achieve the city’s sustainability goals. They concluded that providing local incentives to support the all-electric new buildings is the best direction to head towards, following the leads of other cities including Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, and Davis.
The department also said that all electric buildings are expected to be cheaper to build compared to the mixed fuel buildings, and natural gas infrastructure can also pose a health and safety risk due to seismic activity.
“This is our opportunity to take meaningful action to stop digging a carbon hole and to really be putting a positive carbon-free foot forward,” said Eric Veium, the SLO Climate Coalition Chair. He joined the meeting to discuss to advocate for the city's sustainability goals.
But Mike Cormode, the North Coast Regional officer for the Utility Workers Union of America local 132, disagreed.
“Switching to an electric home would have cost that same family an extra two hundred dollars per month," Cormode said. "When we're in a housing crisis such as this, do you really want to make it even harder to live in San Luis Obispo?”
The ordinance will go into effect January 2023 to provide local builders the time to comply.
